If you haven’t heard, Disney recently released a TV adaptation of The Mysterious Benedict Society! The TV series is based on the first book, which I reread and really enjoyed about two years back. Because I’m at the sweet spot where I remember most of the book but don’t require complete fidelity to the text, I was really excited to watch this.
For those not in the know, The Mysterious Benedict Society is an adventure featuring four plucky children – Reynie, Stickie, Kate, and Constance. They enrol as students in a secretive school and try to find out why and how its head, Mr Curtain, is sending out mysterious, brain-affecting signals which creates the Emergency.
First things first, if you’re someone who likes faithful book adaptations, you may not like this. Although it’s been some time since I read the book, I noticed quite a few differences from the book. I don’t think the TV series is inferior to the original plot because most of the changes made sense, but if you want to see the text come to life as it was written, this may not be something for you.
Although there are plot changes, I thought that the four protagonists generally acted in line with their characters in the book. At first, I was a bit confused at how old Constance was, but I realised it was probably not feasible to get a child as young as her book age to play her part. And even though Constance differed quite widely from my imagination of her, she turned out to be my favourite character – I love how her contrary nature played out on the screen and she has so many funny lines!
Because there are only eight episodes, the story moves at a decent pace. There’s enough time for each character to develop, but there’s something that advances the main plot in every episode, and I didn’t find any part of the series to be draggy (compare this to Wandavision, which I really liked, but whose first two or three episodes also bored me).
Overall, I really enjoyed this. I think that it’s a fun adaptation of The Mysterious Benedict Society and if a second season were ever made, I would definitely watch it.
Featured Image: Screenshot from the Show via The Guardian
I keep forgetting I need to watch this! I did think it a bit odd that Constance’s character was so much older. But I had to admit, as you did, that getting an age-appropriate actor would have been a dilemma! It’s actually kind of weird in the book because, while she can walk and talk, she must still look her age? The characters must just think she’s a really unusual-looking kid??
That’s true! The more I think about it, the more sense it makes for them to age-up Constance.
I don’t watch TV but this sounds like such a fun series!